Argh!

Argh! #1.  As I was holding my sweet little cuddly baby girl against my chest this morning and enjoying the wonderful mommy/daughter snuggle-fest moment... she growled!  Argh!  I told Zeus he could no longer reinforce the growling sound by growling back at her because she now growls ALL THE TIME!  lol  Uh, this is why kids need daddy's... to teach them all the things a mommy never would!  :)  We WERE able to catch the growling on video last night, but I've got to figure out how to upload it so that I can post it.

Argh #2.  Mia is getting really, really, REALLY good at pulling off her NAM.  As soon as I put it in, her cute little hands go right for it and grab/pull on it and dislodge it.  I tried taping across it - cheek to cheek across the NAM - but she would get her fingers under the gaps of the tape (the gaps from where the tape goes from the appliance to her cheeks on each side) and still manage to pull it off or pull it out such that it was sitting crookedy and pinching her lip or mouth.  When this happens, it causes her to emit a high pitched squeal of pain that stops our hearts when we hear it!  The worst is when we are driving and she 's in the back seat when it happens.  Not only does it startle us and scare the bajeebers out of us, but we have trouble getting to her quickly from that angle.  Also, in the car we don't have anything to cut the tape with.  I can usually find a way to angle back and rip the tape to get the NAM out, but it pulls on her little skin and sometimes actually pulls skin off and makes her little cheeks bleed - worst thing ever! - so I try not to do that. 

Good news is, that it seems to be doing what it's suppose to be doing as we saw from yesterday's appointment.  Bad news is, the other day she pulled it out three times in an hour!!!  Argh!  It wouldn't be so bad, but it's not like a shoe that you just pop back on and can go on your merry way.  With the NAM, I have to clean her little mouth out with a special sponge and water because the denture cream residue becomes slimy and gooey in her little mouth, as well as pick the remaining denture cream off the NAM and then scrub/rinse every crevice of it before putting it back in.  The process of actually putting it back in is high drama and causes her to cry for the two minutes I have to hold it in for the denture cream to set, so needless to say it's a time consuming and heart wrenching process.

Today I came up with the Darcie Austin Moreno adaptation of the Nasal Alveolar Moulding device,(or DAM NAM as I like to call it) which has successfully kept the NAM in her mouth the entire day.  I'm actually quite impressed with my ingenuity and wonder why I didn't come up with it before hand.  Unfortunately it is extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY, unattractive and odd-looking as you can see below.

Pobrecita with the DAM NAM.

Fortunately it doesn't seem to bother her, and it makes it so there are no upper edges for her little fingers to curl under so she can't grab onto anything to pull it down.  Unfortunately, she now resembles a nose-less creature from some sort of bizarre sci-fi show.  *SADNESS!!!* 

Now we REALLY get looks out in public!  I keep telling myself that it IS helping and that we only have to do this for another month and a half... we only have to do this for another month and a half...

In the "good news" arena, have I mentioned before that I love craigslist?  I rarely buy anything new anymore.  I always watch craigslist for it and usually can find the item in great shape for about half the original price.  Woooo whoooo!  Yesterday I sold my old shower curtain and towel set from my Utah house (Zeus didn't like it cause it was too "girly").

 Goodbye cute bathroom set that had been sitting in the closet for 6 months.  I will miss you terribly.  :)

It sold for $40 - yay!  I was able to use $25 of my profit to buy...

 ...a Bumbo seat and tray for Mia for $25!

I've been wanting one for a while to help her with sitting up and neck control.  Thank you craigslist for helping me clean out my closet AND save/make money!  Not only did I NOT have to spend $50 to get a new Bumbo and tray, but by selling the bath stuff ON craigslist and buying the Bumbo set FROM craigslist, I have a $15 surplus AND a cleaner closet AND a Bumbo seat for Mia to chill in!  SCORE!

How do I love thee, craigslist?  Let me count the ways...

Random Pics and Just Chillin'

I think that Mia's come down with a little bit of a cold - her first one.  When I take out her NAM she has a lot more congestion build up than ever before and does NOT appreciate my efforts to clean her little mouth out of all the extra "gunk".  I hope it clears up soon!   Because of that, we are just chilling at home again today. 

After yesterday's post of her sitting on the couch, I felt the need to take some pictures of her this morning to show that she is INDEED still small and little and not ENTIRELY grown up yet!  lol

My little sweetie in her little outfit my sister Nik passed along from Germany.  I think Sofia wore it when she was a baby. 

It's hard to see but it has a little fairy in the middle and says, "Komm, wir machen eine Reise en mein fairyland..." (Which roughly translates to, "Come, we're taking a trip to my fairyland...")  I'll have to try and get a pic of Sofia in it and post it along side Mia so we can see the two little cousins in the same outfit!  :)

Here's a quick one from this morning as well - Mia and I snuggling while we wait for her bottle to warm.  As always (of late), Mia's got her milky mouth spots on my shoulder and her fingers in her mouth!  Black is definitely NOT the color to wear during the drooly stages apparently.  lol 

See!  She's still little!!!!  :)  (But growing WAY too fast.)

Here are a few extra pics from the past week that I found on my phone.  :)

got her toes! 

Mia's randomly caught a hold of her toes a few times this past week.  It seems totally on accident for now, but we'll see how long it takes her to do it on purpose.  :)

Both grandma and Mia THOROUGHLY enjoy snuggle time with each other.

I found this paper tape that is touted as "removes easily" and "for delicate skin".  It's really helped keep her NAM on all day, but doesn't necessarily come off as "easily" as I was expecting.

"Mia, what do you think of this new tape?" I asked. 

"Hmmmm," she replied, "Let me think on it and get back to you mom."

Thankfully she doesn't seem to mind it!

Okay, I admit it - I'm a bit of a loon and as anyone who knows me well can attest to, I am also VERY curious in nature.  Mia wasn't thrilled when I had to peel the tape off her cheeks, even though it didn't leave a big red mark behind like the previous tape she had.  So, I wanted to find out what the best, most gentle way was to remove the tape.  Pull in the opposite direction?  Pull straight out?  Fast pull to remove?  Who knew?!?!  Of course, you don't want to experiment on your darling, sweet, precious baby...

Twinners!

Come to find out, the "fast pull" actually hurts significantly and burns for quite some time, while the most gentle way to remove it seemed to be to pull gently in the opposite direction.  She still doesn't LOVE it, but it holds her NAM in place SO well, even if she catches her little fingers on it and accidentally pulls on it - HOORAY!

On a side note, on our one outing for the day yesterday afternoon, Mia and I went to the Hallmark store and video store.  At the Hallmark store they had these mugs and piggy banks with kids names on them that were 40% off.  I was happily surprised to find Mia's name on both - so cute!  Which then left me with the conundrum as to which one, if any, to buy.  I took pictures with my phone and sent them to Zeus to see if I should get them or not, hoping he would be the voice of reason in my shopping craze. 

the mug

the piggy bank

They are so dang cute, aren't they!?!?!  Thanks to papa's calm voice of reason, Mia is now the proud new owner of a personalized mug AND piggy bank!  :)

Mia is one month old already!!!

Mia was one month, one day old for uncle Michael and aunt Deena's wedding.  Here are some pictures recent Mia  pics of our growing little bundle of joy!

Almost a month old, chilling at home while mama packs for the trip to Seattle for the wedding. 

Mama and papa love my soft head of hair.

Family photo at breakfast, the morning of Michael and Deena's wedding.

Multi-tasking family, getting ready for the wedding - Mama tying papa's tie while papa feeds Mia.

Papa burping Mia outside Clise Mansion where the wedding and reception were held.  Notice papa's fancy burp rag - a bandanna!

Mama with Mia in the baby Bjorn with Uncle Dan and cousin Sadie who LOVES babies and was so gentle with baby Mia.  :)

Quick family photo before the ceremony started.

Getting snuggled by papa during the wedding dinner - papa doesn't even mind the sweet baby Mia drool on his shirt.

The cousins who were able to make it to the wedding.  Mia - 1 month, Christopher - 2 months, Nathan - 2 years, and Sadie - 9 months.  We are so sad that Sofia and Sara couldn't make it from Germany to make the cousin pic complete.

The Austin kids with their kids (minus Nikki and her girls).  :(

Darcie and Mia, Michelle with Nathan and Christopher, and Dan with Sadie.

Our wide-eyed girl hanging with papa the day after the wedding at one month and two days old. 

Here are some Mia pics from the last month.  We can hardly believe our baby girl is already a month old!!!  We are currently in Washington state with family for my brother Michael's wedding (info and pics soon), but I wanted to catch up and post a few of the thousands of pictures we have taken of Mia so far.  :)

Hard to believe that a little over a month ago we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mia.  51 inches of mama's tummy worth of little angel baby!  We thought she'd NEVER arrive.

Heading to the hospital to start the induction on June 29th.  We went in at 7 pm and Mia arrived the next day.  Zeus's shirt is wet from loading the hospital bags in the car on that rainy day.

The AMAZING doctor and her nurse.  Dr. Yoo took such good care of Mommy and Mia!

A gift from mommy's friend Jaclyn - wrapped up almost as cute as the sweet bundle next to it.

Mommy, cousin Chayo, and Mia.  Chayo was so cute holding Mia and did SUCH a great job - a natural little mama!

Cousins Carlos and DJ love their little prima Mia.

Tia Hilda, Tio Danny, Mama, Papa,

Tia Bertha holding Mia, and cousins DJ and Carlos came to visit to see little Mia.

Mia LOVES the swing that Auntie Heidi gave us - thank you Haggard family!

Close up of Mia with her "tape" in her cute "I make daddy smile" outfit from the papa's friends the Hogan's - so cute!  They keep Mia stylin' by generously passing along the cutest outfits!  (The tape is one of the stages to pull back that front premaxillary area in preparation for surgery.)

Mia meets papa's papa - grandpa Agustin.

Our precious baby Mia in her darling outfit and matching blanket from Auntie Brenda - aka Zeus's second mama from work. It's SO darling! It was the perfect outfit for Uncle Michael's wedding and looked so incredibly adorable!

Here's a picture of Mia's NAM device. This is the second stage in preparation for her lip surgery at 4-6 months. This replaces the tape and helps pull back that front lip and gum portion in a more permanent way than the tape.

Thanks to a well-timed yawn, you can see the device in her mouth, how it wraps around the premaxillary gum and lip area and covers up the front portion of her hard palate.  The dark pink area in the back is where her soft palate is open up into her sinuses.

Mia from the front with her NAM device in.